Tuesday, May 3, 2011

glory days

This is one of my favorite times of year for my gardens: when most of my major bulbs are out, especially the daffodils, hyacinth, grape hyacinth, and the first of my tulips. This time of year, my garden acts serves as a traffic-abatement device, slowing down cars as they drive by. Neighbors wave and give me a thumbs-up if they walk by and see me sitting in the front window. It's very rewarding.

Seed-starting update: most of my morning glories have sprouted and emerged from the soil, as have all of the other warm-weather seeds I first started in the greenhouse and then moved into the basement. Lesson learned. My raised bed is now covered with little green things poking out of the soil. Now if I can only find the little map I made as I was sowing the seeds, so I can figure out the seedlings that I don't recognize.

My new bowl-of-beauty peonies sprouted seemingly overnight a few days a ago and are now about 9 inches high. One of the three has yet to emerge, and I'm concerned I buried it too deep.

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About Me

I live in Portland, Maine, together with my wife and seven-year-old daughter. I have been gardening seriously since 2005. I teach college history by day, creative writing by evening, work at Skillins Greenhouses on weekends during the summer, and garden when I can.

My garden

My garden is a mere 600 square feet, most of it in full sun in my front yard. I have a raised bed in my back yard, and two long planters alongside the deck which I use to raise vegetables. This rest of the back yard is weedy lawn that my daughter can run around on. I have a compost bin behind the garage, and two rain barrels alongside the house.